Mark McClelland's Blog, page 4

Postcard from Columbus Carriage House

Postcard from Nancy Osterhaus of Columbus Carriage House Bed & Breakfast:

"So sorry I missed you when you left, Mark! I sure hope you had a great trip back to Chicago. Your book is wonderful — I’m in the staying-up-all-night-to-get-to-the-next-chapter phase!! Good luck with your new book. Take care — hope to see you again!"

Nancy downloaded a copy of Upload to her Nook and started reading it during my stay, and I’m overjoyed to hear that it’s keeping her up late. I wanted Upload to be a book enjoyed by readers who typically don't go for sci-fi, and it sounds like it worked. Nancy, I don't think you could have possibly known this when you were writing me, but your postcard gave me a great sense of achievement — it confirmed that I succeeded in writing a book that rightly belongs in the science fiction section, but appeals to a broad audience.

See my gorgeous breakfast and read more about Columbus Carriage House in my full blog post on uploadthenovel.com.

How to Become a Goodreads Author

Some of my fellow indie authors have found the process for becoming a Goodreads Author a bit obscure. I thought it might be handy to write out the process in what I think is its simplest form:

1. Become a Goodreads member, if you aren’t already

2. Search for one of your titles

3. If your book isn’t on Goodreads, click the button at the bottom of the search results page… the one that says, “Still can’t find the book? Add a new record”

4. Once your book is on Goodreads, search for yourself as an author

5. At the bottom of the basic author profile page for you, there should be a link that says, “Is this you?” Click that and request approval.

Click here for Details on the Author Program.

(Reposted from my own blog post on uploadthenovel.com.)

Hope that helps!

My First Public Author Event

Thank you so much to everyone who attended my first “author event” at City Lit Books Thursday evening. It’s been a tremendous source of joy to discover that people take an active interest in books — that I can schedule an event to talk about my book and people actually walk away GLAD they went. That this is a phenomenon I can participate in just bowls me over, and makes me feel like I’ve finally found my voice.

Kirkus Indie Review For Upload

“McClelland’s ambitious debut novel envisions a future in which the vanishing line between virtual reality and “organic life” causes an antisocial genius to conduct the ultimate evolutionary experiment… The author has a particular gift for describing the technological advances, brand names, pop-cultural references and unique detritus of a society dependent on machines for survival and ravaged by virtual-reality addiction… McClelland’s slick imagination remains in full gear until the novel’s unpredictable conclusion. A thoughtful tale resembling a sci-fi video game viewed in a funhouse mirror.” –Kirkus Indie

Check out the entire review.

The best part: the Kirkus reviews for Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, and Mona Lisa Overdrive, by William Gibson, now list Upload as a suggested similar book. While I don’t feel the folks at Kirkus Indie really “got” my book, it’s great to see it listed alongside such well regarded titles.

Reading at City Lit Books, November 29

I will be reading excerpts from Upload, at City Lit Books, in Logan Square. Q&A and book-signing to follow.

Thursday, November 29
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
City Lit Books
2523 North Kedzie Blvd.
Chicago, IL

City Lit is just south of Lula Cafe and Boulevard Bikes.

Stellar Review from Jim Grisham

“Not only did I finish Upload, I read it during nearly every free moment during less than thirty hours. As the hundreds of unfinished novels on my shelves will jealously attest, such a feat is quite extraordinary for me and is perhaps the greatest endorsement that I have to give.”

A huge thank-you to Jim Grisham for his carefully considered, well written response to “Upload”. The full review can be found here, on the Upload page.

First Full-Length Review of "Upload"

"Like Neil Stephenson’s Snow Crash and Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon, Upload is fast paced and full of action, a story-noire set in a not too distant dystopian society; and the characters and worlds are well developed and very believable."

My first full-length review comes from fellow Lulu author, Hazen Wardle. Read the entire review here: http://smallmarkbooks.yolasite.com/bo...

Thank you so much, Hazen, for taking the time to write such a thoughtful and well-structured review!

Refining the Print Edition

Received another shipment from Lulu today! Draft copies of the new 9" x 6" Trade trim size (Amazon doesn't do the 8.5 x 5.5 Digest trim size), with a new font on the font and a blurb and link to uploadthenovel.com on the back. This new print edition will have its own ISBN. I'm working to get it finalized in time for my book release party at the new Century Guild art gallery in Logan Square!

See the photo and original post here: http://www.uploadthenovel.com/refinin...

Upload available on iBookstore

In the spirit of expanding into new channels, Upload is now available on Apple's iBookstore. All you iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch owners can download Upload direct to your iOS device, through the iBooks app. You should be able to find it by title or author.

Or you can download it into iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9...

Upload now available on Kobo and Google Play

My self-publishing and distribution saga is still in its very early stages. I managed to navigate the murky, sloppy waters of distribution through Google Play, but I'm still waiting for my description of the book to show up. Google tells me it could be "weeks" before my text makes it to the actual listing.

In happier news, Kobo was a breeze, an absolute delight by comparison. Based on my experience thus far, I strongly recommend them as a venue for publishing an eBook. (But I'm glad I started on Lulu, where the documentation and community support are the best I've seen so far.)

For more on where to find Upload, and on the details of getting it out there, check out uploadthenovel.com.